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The flexibility of subscriptions. Cancel anytime

Blue Apron Review 2023: Getting to Know Them

What is Blue Apron & how was it created?

Founded in the confines of their apartment in New York City, Matt Salzberg, Illia Papas, and Matt Wadiak envisioned and footed the roots of Blue Apron in 2012.

Despite having different career paths, the three have forged meal kit delivery service by starting with a few orders which they individually hand packed.

Banking on positive feedback from friends and recurring customers, the three aimed to bring the experience of being your own chef with quality produce and specialty ingredients to everyone.

As the name suggests, Blue Apron is for everyone who is new to cooking or someone who knows how to cook but is quite tired of overthinking what to prepare with very little time.

Blue aprons are worn by beginner chefs to signify learning. In this time of the pandemic, who has the time to go to the stores and buy your ingredients?

That’s what meal kit delivery services are for.

Choose from the wide array of meal recipes and let Blue Apron handle the rest.

What does Blue Apron offer on a weekly basis?

From Blue Apron’s two main categories, Signature meal kits and Vegetarian meal kits, you can get to enjoy 2-4 and 2-3 recipes each week, respectively.

Inside every box of meal kit from Blue Apron, you get their curated recipe cards and fresh ingredients packed with ice packs in insulated bags to keep their freshness.

Each week, Blue Apron offers 9-10 recipes with variations ranging from vegetarian to an array and a mixture of well-balanced meals for either two or four servings.

Although not available every week, Blue Apron helps the consumer by pinning their available categories for the week such as recipes with 600 Cal or less, Mediterranean Diet, Carb Conscious, and the like.

Their recipes can be prepared for 20-25 minutes depending on the complexity of the dish.

Blue Apron also readily provides nutritional information for each recipe.

Although Blue Apron suggests that they offer a wide variety of dietary preferences, choices may be a bit limited each week.

Like other meal kit delivery services, you have to be wary of the meals you choose as Blue Apron assembles all their meal kits in a single facility, so the risk of having allergens in your food is possible.

Blue Apron works with many family-run farms to support sustainable practices while providing their customers with quality ingredients.

What meal kits does Blue Apron offer? Is there enough?

Despite having very limited weekly offers, Blue Apron actually has a wide variety of available recipes throughout the year.

The catch is you have to stay tuned to get a chance to try some of their best sellers for certain categories.

Blue Apron has 2 major categories for their weekly dishes:

Signature dishes gives you the chance to choose from an array of meat, fish, Beyond Meat™, WW™ Approved, Diabetes-friendly, and health-conscious recipes. This selection may either be for 2 servings or 4. You can enjoy Blue Apron’s meals with your family.
Vegetarian recipes highlight Blue Apron’s meat-free dishes with the best seasonal produce. Savor Beyond Meat™ and its glory whenever they’re available!

Browsing through Blue Apron’s cookbooks, you will be able to find over a hundred recipes neatly categorized into subclasses.

To help you choose which dishes to watch out for so you can plan when to order, Blue Apron has categorized their cookbook by three major selections.

1. Main ingredient

Filter the recipes you will be choosing from by the main protein, and the star of the dish. Choose from beef, fish, lamb, pork, poultry, shellfish, or you can choose from the vegetarian section.

2. Cuisine

If you’re looking for a specific dish from a country you’ve been to before, Blue Apron might just be able to help you. You can easily browse their cookbook and choose from their listed 27 different countries. Although you might have to check up on their upcoming menus, waiting might just take a while. Nevertheless, this just shows the variety of Blue Apron’s services.

3. Seasonal recipes

One of the most interesting parts of Blue Apron’s cookbooks is that they offer recipes that are limited by season. Some of their best-selling recipes are even seasonal. In this selection, they also let you take a peek at what was offered last week and let you plan with the recipes offered for the next week. Look forward to making your meals special with their meal kits exclusively available and expertly curated for Fall, Spring, Summer, and Winter.

Best-selling recipes from Blue Apron

With all the recipes listed in Blue Apron’s cookbook, how on earth will you be watching out for the best recipe?

We took the liberty of reviewing some of their recipes and we’re suggesting two of the top-rated recipes from their list.

With over 10,000 orders and ratings, here are their best sellers to date.

1. Chrissy Teigen’s Sesame Chicken Noodles with Bok Choy. (2 Servings • 970 cal • 30 mins prep time •)

You know it’s going to be a good meal if you can see Chrissy Teigen’s name with the recipe. Blue Apron has made a great move to partner with the TV personality and noted celebrity cook, Chrissy Teigen. Cook up a meal this easy and get your kits for nutty and sesame-filled noodles with tahini and sambal sauce lathered in chicken and bok choy on top of fettuccine. Pair up this meal that packs a punch and heat with a citrusy, bright, and fresh Anne Amie Vineyard’s Müller-Thurgau and balance the whole experience. Let Blue Apron take care of this for you.

2. Seared Steaks & Homemade Steak Sauce (2 Servings • 710 cal • 45 mins prep time •)

With over 10,000 reviews, this meal kit is definitely one to order. Make your own steak sauce by following Blue Apron’s recipe and combine soy glaze, ketchup, brown sugar, and even add up your own touch to elevate your steaks! Complete the dish with a side of cheesy mashed potatoes and sauteed carrots. What else would go well with steaks but red wine? Take up Blue Apron’s suggestion and order yourself a Vermillion red wine to compliment your meal.

Read More: Green Chef Review

Blue Apron's Pricing and Plans

Start ordering your meal kits with Blue Apron and experience their customer service. Signature dishes come in 2 to 4 servings per week. Serving for 2 people would only cost $9.99/serving, weekly meal kits would range from $47.95 for 2 recipes to $79.92 for 4 recipes. Shipping fees only apply to 2 recipes per week.

With the same price per serving, Blue Apron’s Vegetarian meal plans offer 2 to 3 recipes only per week with a shipping fee only applied to 2 recipes.

Wines at Blue Apron

Blue Apron has devised an ingenious idea of making your meal kits more special by adding a selection of complimenting wines.

You can choose to pick your own wines at $10 per bottle and have them delivered in bulk of 6 500 ml wines of your own choice or let Blue Apron choose for you as they suggest the best pair for selected recipes.

In each meal kit with a bottle of wine that you will be ordering, you will also get cue cards containing a guide to walk you through the story of your wine, together with its accentuating notes.

Blue Apron’s delivery locations

Since the launching of Blue Apron, they have continuously expanded on their delivery capacities and are now able to deliver within the contiguous parts of the United States.

Delivery dates would depend on your preference and Blue Apron allows you to choose when to deliver the items within the week.

Although able to deliver in most parts of the United States, Blue Apron has currently limited delivery locations for their wines.

Blue Apron strives for better service

We mentioned how Blue Apron may have the tendency to fall short on their available recipes per week.

Good thing they listen to what the customers say.

Last October 26, 2020, Blue Apron has launched their customization feature.

This feature would promote for the customers to try and mix things up.

It allows the customer to swap, add, or upgrade ingredients in your ordered meal kits for 2 and 4-serving Signature meal kits.

This will help customers satisfy their preference by adding to the portion of an ingredient if it seems lacking or switch out a protein, or any ingredient for that matter, to suit your taste better.

What’s more exciting about this is this feature will let you choose more premium proteins over the ones provided to elevate your meals.

Although, you have to be wary of swapping out or adding in ingredients as this entails additional cost.

Blue Apron has given an estimate of $0.96 to $5.95 per serving for any customization.

Basically, as of writing, this feature is still in its soft launching stage.

Blue Apron is set to roll-out full availability by the end of December 2020.

Pros & Cons of ordering from Blue Apron

Pros

Insulated packaging that keeps the ingredients in the meal kit fresh for a long time
Fresh and organic produce
Ready-to-cook ingredients carefully portioned to avoid any waste
The flexibility of subscriptions. Cancel anytime
Offers wine selection and gives great suggestions
Now offers customization of size portions and ingredients (October 26, 2020)
Organized cookbook categories
Features seasonal and specialized recipes

Cons

Very limited available recipes per week for all meal plans
Limited serving size and recipes for vegetarian meals
Some recipe choices are seasonal
High-risk consumers with potential allergies to specific ingredients cannot be catered due to the possibility of cross-contamination
Relatively costs more per meal kit

Why order from Blue Apron?

Aside from prioritizing the freshness of their ingredients, Blue Apron values the aspect of learning how to cook and discover new ideas, thus their name.

Blue Apron ensures the quality and safety of their services by having an elaborate food safety plan ensuring control over their services.

They also support family-run farms by sourcing the ingredients you get in your meal kits from them.

With over a hundred hand-picked family-run farms supplying for Blue Apron, quality standards have been raised to ensure that the customer is getting nothing but the best of what they order.

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FAQs

How do Blue Apron meals work?

Blue Apron is a fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service that helps chefs of all levels cook incredible meals at home. Blue Apron takes care of the menu planning and shopping (providing you with fresh, locally sourced ingredients in pre-measured quantities), so all you have to do is cook and enjoy (please note: Blue Apron’s blog is full of helpful tips that will help you cook with speed and ease).

You can manage each delivery to suit your needs by selecting recipes you’re interested in, skipping weeks you don’t need, or even ordering an extra box for when you need a little bit more.

Blue Apron offers the following plans designed to suit your specific culinary needs.

Is there a minimum duration required for the Blue Apron meals subscription?

There’s no minimum commitment required for Blue Apronsubscriptions. All orders can be skipped or canceled by the cutoff date and time, reflected on your Upcoming page and your Account Settings. A friendly reminder that any orders identified as ‘Order Processed’ or ‘Shipped’ in your Upcoming page have already processed, and can’t be changed or canceled.

Are there membership fees?

There are no membership fees associated with Blue Apron’s meal or wine plans.

Will my subscription auto-renew?

Yes, Blue Apron will continue to deliver you weekly meals or monthly wine, unless you decide to skip any upcoming deliveries or cancel. There’s no minimum commitment, so you’re welcome to skip a meal or cancel your subscription at any time.

Please note that all account changes need to be made by the ‘Changeable Before’ date reflected on your Upcoming page and Account Settings. All orders shown as ‘Order Processed’ or ‘Shipped’ on your Upcoming page have already been processed and cannot be canceled. A friendly reminder that you will be responsible for all charges (including applicable taxes and charges) relating to any order processed before this time.

What is Meal Prep by Blue Apron? Is it available in my area?

With Blue Apron’s Meal Prep plan, you’ll receive all the pre-portioned, high-quality ingredients you need to prepare 8 servings of delicious, chef-designed dishes. The Meal Prep kits come with one set of cooking instructions to help you prepare the ingredients for all 8 servings in under 2 hours, so you have ready-to-go meals prepared ahead of time to enjoy!

If you have a Blue Apron account, visit your Upcoming page and select a scheduled week. If you don’t have an account, reach out to Blue Apron’s Customer Experience team at contact@blueapron.com so Blue Apron can help further.

Do you have specific dietary plans?

At this time, Blue Apron does not offer specific dietary plans, with the exception of our Signature for 2 Vegetarian Plan. However, Blue Apron’s Culinary team designs many of their recipes so they can be adjusted by making simple at-home substitutions.

Many of Blue Apron’s chefs check their weekly menus in advance and customize their menus each week by visiting their Upcoming page. If you can’t find an exact menu that works for you, you can make an appropriate at-home ingredient substitution or choose to skip that week’s delivery.

What comes in each delivery?

Blue Apron meals deliveries contain all the seasonal produce and specialty ingredients you need to create unique, flavorful meals for the week. In each box, they will send detailed recipe cards with step-by-step instructions to make dinner easy and delicious. Just bring salt, pepper, olive oil, and an appetite!

Additionally, the team works hard to carefully package each ingredient, ensuring that your delivery arrives ready to enjoy.

What are Premium Recipes?

Blue Apron Premium Recipes are recipes that introduce home cooks to specialty protein combinations, advanced culinary techniques, and unique flavor twists. These recipes deliver the experience customers know and love from Blue Apron, with an added emphasis on teaching home cooks how to create more elaborate meals.

Blue Apron Premium recipes will be initially featured as a new twelfth selection on our Signature Two-Serving menu. The new premium recipes will be featured on their Four-Serving menu beginning 04/20.

Pricing for Blue Apron Premium meals will vary between $14.99 and $19.99 per serving on their Two-Serving menu and between $13.99 and $19.99 per serving on their Four-Serving menu, depending on the recipe.

Look for the ‘Premium’ badge on your Upcoming page to see our scheduled Premium recipes for the coming weeks!

Can Blue Apron accommodate food allergies?

All Blue Apron’s ingredients are packaged in a facility that also processes milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy. Because of this, they don’t recommend ordering Blue Apron if you have a severe food allergy.

Blue Apron also provides allergen information on our nutrition labels for each recipe, which are available online up to 1.5 weeks in advance. They also recommend checking the ingredient labels in your box for the most up-to-date allergen information, as we occasionally need to replace an item with an alternative to ensure high quality.

Do you provide nutritional and caloric information?

Blue Apron always wants to help our chefs make informed decisions when cooking with us, so they provide nutritional information for each recipe up to 1.5 weeks in advance. These labels include the recipe’s ingredient list, nutrient breakdown, daily values and allergen information.

Because every chef’s style of cooking differs, the caloric values of prepared meals may vary slightly depending on any added ingredients (such as olive oil) used in the process.

How do you come up with your recipes?

Blue Apron works with trusted suppliers and artisans to source the best seasonal ingredients. Their direct relationship with farmers guarantees demand for their harvest, allowing them to better plan their crop rotations to grow specialty produce for us. Blue Apron’s culinary team uses these ingredients to create recipes that encourage our chefs to try new ingredients and cooking techniques at home every week.

Please know that Blue Apron takes care to ensure their recipes are suitable for beginners and experts alike. Their culinary team is always working hard to put new, unique meals on your table each week.

Can I choose my recipes?

Yes! Regardless of which plan you select, you’ll be able to customize your recipes each week ahead of time. Click here to learn how to choose your recipes.

How can I switch my plan?

Blue Apron’s Signature for 4 meals are designed to serve a family of 4, while their Signature for 2 plan recipes are perfectly portioned to serve 2 people.

If you’d like to switch plans, head to your Plan Settings. From there, click ‘Edit’ and select the plan you’d like to switch to. Please note that all changes should be made by the ‘Changeable Before’ date in order to update your next scheduled delivery.

Will sold out recipes become available again?

Due to their just-in-time sourcing model, specialty ingredients may come in limited quantities. This means that, occasionally, some of their more popular recipes will be marked ‘Sold Out’ on your Upcoming page.

To ensure that you receive a specific recipe on the menu before it becomes sold out, you can make selections up to 3 weeks in advance on your Upcoming page. Just click ‘Change Recipes’ on the right-hand side of your next scheduled order to lock in your selections!

How do I skip a delivery?

You can skip upcoming scheduled deliveries up to 5 weeks in advance! To skip an upcoming order before it processes:

Head to your Upcoming page
Scroll down until you locate the delivery you’d like to skip, and select ‘Manage Delivery’
A pop-up window will give you the option to change your delivery day for the week, change your delivery’s address, or skip the order. To skip, select ‘Skip This Delivery’
Confirm this by selecting ‘Skip’ one more time, and you’ll see a red ‘x’ next to the delivery date once saved.

Can I skip an order that is marked as ‘Order Processed' or ‘Shipped'?

Once an order is marked as ‘Order Processed’ or ‘Shipped’ in your Upcoming page, it has already been processed and cannot be changed. Please note you will be responsible for all charges (including applicable taxes) relating to any order processed after the ‘Changeable before’ date.

You can always find the ‘Changeable Before’ date reflected in the Account Settings section of your account or on your Upcoming page by clicking on the Receipt icon to the right of the ‘Manage Delivery’ button.

How do I reschedule a meal delivery?

If you’d like to change your delivery day for an upcoming week, visit your Upcoming page and locate the order you’d like to modify. Select ‘Manage Delivery’ for the option to reschedule and select your preferred date out of the available delivery days. This will change your delivery day for that order while keeping the rest of your deliveries scheduled for your regular weekly delivery day indicated in your Plan Settings.

How do I change my weekly delivery day?

If you’d like to change your weekly delivery day, visit the Plan Settings section of your Account Settings and select ‘Edit.’ Next to ‘Delivery Day,’ you can select an available day of the week and click ‘Update My Plan Settings’ to save your selection.

What if I'm not home during delivery?

If you aren’t home when a delivery is made, the shipping carrier will typically leave your order at your doorstep. We advise that you place all perishable items in the refrigerator immediately upon delivery, understanding that you are receiving temperature-sensitive ingredients. Depending on the season and temperature in your geographic area at the time of delivery, advanced planning may be needed to ensure immediate and proper storage of ingredients prior to consumption.

Depending on your area, you may be able to provide additional shipping instructions when creating your account (e.g., leaving the delivery at the back door or with a neighbor). Please note that while carriers may be able to honor these special delivery instructions, Blue Apron cannot guarantee that they’ll be accommodated and isn’t liable for any lost, stolen or damaged deliveries that result from these requests.

How do I track my delivery?

Once your order has shipped, you’ll receive an email notification with the subject line ‘Your Blue Apron delivery is on its way!’ The email will provide your order details and tracking number.

When will my delivery arrive?

After you sign up and enter your zip code, you’ll have the option to select a delivery day from a list of available options in your area.

To view your delivery window, follow the steps below:

Log into your account and head to your Upcoming page.
Your next meal delivery will be displayed at the top of the page.
Once your delivery ships, we’ll send you an email with tracking information (this information can also be found on the Upcoming page once the delivery has shipped).

If you haven’t already, you can download our mobile app and enable push notifications that will let you know when your box has been delivered by the shipping carrier on your scheduled delivery day. Visit your ‘Profile’ tab to manage your push notification settings, and decide what types of reminder you’d like to receive.

They advise that you place all perishable items in the refrigerator immediately upon delivery, understanding that you are receiving temperature-sensitive ingredients. Depending on the season and temperature in your geographic area at the time of delivery, advance planning may be needed to ensure immediate and proper storage of ingredients prior to consumption.

Can I narrow down my delivery window?

Blue Apron is currently unable to offer a narrower window for your delivery. However, they pack all of their boxes with ice packs and insulated liners to maintain the freshness of our ingredients during transit and several hours after delivery.

To ensure optimal freshness, we advise that you unpack your ingredients into your fridge as soon as possible once they arrive.